So, I’m back in the US again, and I had forgotten just how infatuated everyone here is with movie stars’ lives. Thanks to my girlfriend’s curiosities about who’s dating who, and other equally important issues in the celebrity and celebutant world, I once again (see my old post about a Nikon Camera ad in a People Magazine) stumbled across a great piece of unusual print advertising in a People Magazine.
In the February 2008 edition of the magazine, Welch’s Grape Juice put out a great ad. The front page of the ad itself seems at first glance to be a cologne or perfume ad, but it is far from that. The front of the ad shows a bottle of their grape juice next to what looks like a pull-out perfume insert (we’ve all seen these…the ones with a scented piece of paper inside for the sample), but next to this it says “For a tasty fact, remove and lick.” So…if you then pull off the glued-on foil paper, beneath it there is a claim that states “Welch’s had twice the antioxidant power of orange juice. It helps protect your immune system.”
However, the truly different part of the ad is what is inside of the foil paper that you just removed….concealed within the paper is a little, edible purple square. This little square is actually a solidified, synthetic representation of the real Welch’s Grape Juice that you can put on your tongue and let dissolve.
So, Welch’s (or whichever ad agency represented them on this project) delivered several valuable messages through this ad. The first is their central-route message, which is basically the claim about the antioxidant power, and resulting immunity influence of their grape juice. The second takes a more peripheral route, which is providing the sample itself simply to get attention, and, hopefully, retain it after the reader turns the page, and maybe even after they set the magazine down. For me anyways, it certainly sticks out in my mind, as this is the first instance of a taste-test sample of this nature that I have ever seen.
On the back of the foil envelope with the sample inside, it says “Peel ‘n Taste® Welch’s Grape Juice Flavor Strip.” At the bottom it says that the sample itself was manufactured by “First Flavor, Inc.,” and provides their Web site as: www.peelntaste.com. I’m personally very interested to see what else this company comes up with, and who else utilizes their brilliant idea of throwing edible samples (or “flavor renditions” of the actual product) into magazines and other print vehicles.
